


Mature Adults

by Ilthit



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Divorce, F/M, Future Fic, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-23
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-21 03:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/895196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilthit/pseuds/Ilthit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The next time Andre fell in love, Elijah was away at college and Jordan had just started his senior year in high school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mature Adults

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tootsiemuppet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tootsiemuppet/gifts).



> Written for a ficlet prompt from Tootsiemuppet.

The next time Andre fell in love, Elijah was away at college and Jordan had just started his senior year in high school. It hit Ben the hardest, but the last thing either Andre or Shirley wanted was to hurt their kids, so Andre and Bea (who was a school-teacher instead of a stripper and who Shirley never called a sneaky man-stealing ho, ever) got a house just down the street. The boys would never have to go far to see either of their parents, regardless of who had custody that week.

Shirley tried her best to make it easy for them. If she was slicing vegetables and started mulling over things, she'd stop and go away for a while until she could be sure not to stab the cutting board so hard the salad would end up crunchy with splinters. If something in the house reminded her too much of the good days, she'd excuse herself into the bathroom until she felt more together or the boys were out of the house.

Her sister came to stay for a while after Andre moved out, which didn't help. Britta started picking up her lunch at Shirley's Sandwiches every day and staying to chat for the whole half-hour, which also didn't help, but it was nice knowing she cared. It was an upside that the vast majority of the Bennetts’ mutual friends had taken Shirley's side, because good people recognize who's in the right and who's a dirty horndog-- that is, who might have done a better job committing to their wedding vows.

What did help was that Jeff started taking Shirley out every Thursday night when Ben and Jordan were staying with Andre and Bea. They got banned from two different bars before they found one with a foosball table sturdy enough to take their style of playing. On another night, Shirley stood at the end of a pier by the lake and screamed into the darkness until a night fisherman came by and gave them a stern speech about practicing emotional catharsis in public spaces.

Jeff barely needed to say a word to coax her pent-up feelings out of her, because Shirley already knew he'd soak it in like a sponge. An evil sponge. All that bile just made him stronger.

"I know you're a good person, Jeffrey," she told him when they sat on her porch swing with her head on his shoulder, after she was drained of rage and almost happy. "I just don't know how it works out that way. You don't believe in anything except the evil in man, and you still end up doing the right thing in the end, every time. How do you do that?"

"I have your expectations to live up to."

"All spin," she muttered, sighed, and put her arm around his waist. "You do believe in people, even the bad ones. Thanks for letting me bad for a while."

"Thanks for not letting me be bad all the time."

They stayed outside for a little longer, and then went in for crab paste crackers, red wine and Real Housewives. 


End file.
